Kids are super-fast learners. They pick up actions quicker than words. Your daily actions, how you communicate or express your feelings, and even the way you dress are blueprints for them. So, when you show good habits such as kindness, it increases the likelihood that your children will emulate or mirror these habits. Setting a positive example is the best way to guide their development.
What you do matters more to them than what you say. For instance, if you want your child to share, practice sharing things with them or asking them to share with you. If you want them to speak kindly, use gentle, thoughtful words with a calm tone of voice. Similarly, if you want them to take pride in their appearance, demonstrate that through your grooming habits and provide them with choices of dress that they feel confident wearing.
As W.E.B. Du Bois said, "Children learn more from what you are than what you teach."
The notion of "Do as I Say, Not as I Do" falls short of providing children with sound structure and guidance because kids learn by observing actions. Instead, embracing a "Do as I Do" approach promotes a more effective learning environment, as children absorb positive behaviors and mirror them; making the desired behavior you want to see in your children more meaningful.
How Your Actions Shape Your Children's Influences?
Your actions shape your children's influences in the following ways:
Behavioral Modeling
One of the most common prompts used to teach children new skills is modeling. According to the APA Dictionary of Psychology, behavioral modeling involves observing and imitating the actions and behaviors of others. In psychology, it refers to how individuals learn new behaviors by watching and replicating the actions (also known as mirroring) of their role models or influential figures.
Parents play a significant role in shaping their kids' behavior by demonstrating the right way through their own actions. Children notice everything their parents do, and when parents consistently engage in positive actions, it helps children understand what's right.
Emotional Expression
The way parents express their emotions has a significant influence on their kids. Every gesture, whether a smile or a frown, shapes a child's personality and thinking. How parents handle their emotions, like frustration or stress, influences how well their child can control their feelings.
When parents regularly show positive emotions, like empathy and patience, they teach their kids how to connect with others by increasing perspective-taking. It also helps children learn how to cope with and talk about their feelings which is especially important when processing negative emotions such as sadness, anger, and pain. Children are resilient and teaching them that everyone has big feelings, but they can look to or provide others with support will help them become even more resilient to life stressors as they develop.
Outer Appearance Impact
Children learn a lot from watching how their parents dress and carry themselves. Parents' guide their children in finding a balance between style awareness and expressing their own interests through clothing. Whether parents like tidy, creative, or simple things, these choices shape how their children perceive dress and can have an impact on how they choose to show themselves to the world.
Parents help shape style awareness even more by showing their kids how to choose the appropriate clothes for different activities. Let’s face it, every parent of a tot has had a conversation with them about why we can’t wear our Halloween costume to the grocery store!
5 Best Ways to Guide Kids Through Actions
Guiding children through actions is a powerful and often underestimated method for infusing values and shaping their development. A child's mind functions like a sponge, soaking up information constantly. It emphasizes the importance of the behaviors they see as these will be the behaviors they internalize when shaping their mindset. So, let’s talk about the best ways to guide kids through actions, acknowledging the profound impact positive modeling can have on their character, beliefs, and growth.
Respectful Relationships
When you treat your friends and partner with kindness, you're showing your child how to build healthy relationships. If things get tough, show them how to handle conflict positively through problem-solving actions and appropriate emotional expression. For example, you can model for your kids how to state their likes or dislikes before coming up with a solution to the problem by saying, “I don’t like it when you yell at me. Can you speak in a softer voice.” or “I was disappointed when you didn’t help me out with the chores as you promised. Perhaps we can talk about better ways we can work together by splitting up our chores.”
You can also assert yourself respectfully. For instance, you might politely decline an invitation, saying, 'I can't go out tonight because I have a family commitment. Maybe another time' By doing these things, you're being respectful and teaching your child essential skills for building cordial relations with others.
Self-Control/Self-Regulation Strategies
When parents use self-control or self-regulation strategies, they show their kids how to handle big emotions such as anger or frustration. If a parent feels anger in their body, taking deep breaths or simply stating, “I need a moment,” before walking away to de-escalate, provide your children with options on functional ways to regulate big emotions by taking time out to calm their bodies.
Compassionate Responses
Listening and understanding when your child is concerned teaches them that their feelings matter. Appreciating small gestures and expressing gratitude for little things, like beautiful scenery or a kind gesture from your child, helps build an appreciation mindset.
Being generous with saying "thank you" to others, such as the delivery person or a waiter, also demonstrates the importance of recognizing and thanking people for their efforts. This way, parents actively teach their kids about understanding feelings, appreciation, and gratitude through their actions.
Developing Apparel Sense
Kids naturally learn about dressing and grooming by watching their parents. They pick up ideas about personal style, cleanliness, and expressing themselves just by watching what their parents wear and how they groom.
Parents often dress their kids in a way that reflects their own beliefs, fashion sense, and even morals.
Healthy Lifestyle Practices
Parents play a key role in teaching their children about healthy lifestyle practices by being role models. When parents make nutritious food choices and engage in regular physical activity, it sets a positive example for their kids to keep them healthy as well as active. Activities like swimming together or taking family walks promote health and activity while also making valuable memories for children to cherish as they grow.
How does ADTIGO's athletic apparel empower and boost confidence in the overall development of young girls?
By encouraging early engagement in sports, ADTIGO contributes to overall development, promoting confidence and an active lifestyle for young girls who often are not always the active focus of sports activity development. We understand the importance of adding value to our families. This is why our clothes are designed to be worn anytime to promote an active lifestyle, style awareness, and individual expression while being versatile enough to be appropriate wear for different occasions as well as high quality to ensure lots of wear.
Adtigo apparel empowers young girls by providing inclusive and functional designs. This ensures comfort and confidence for diverse body types. When girls wear them, they radiate with confidence and feel free to embrace the fun adventurous side of their individual personalities.
Best of all parents get a lot of band for their buck! Our clothes are made from special dri-fit, SPF 50 technology to keep the kids cool and protected from the sun. They are buttery soft, stretchy, and have fascinating colors. We pay attention to every detail to ensure your kids feel their best selves in our clothes.
